Disposal of Nuclear Waste The Problem with Nuclear Waste - - Possible health and safety concerns require that nuclear waste be stored in a controlled and secure manner. The issue is the waste may have an extremely long half-life, some of which retain half of their dangerous properties 100,000 years after production.
The Reason Nuclear Waste is Dangerous - - Nuclear waste is dangerous, expensive, and threat to global security. When it comes to combating climate change, it cannot deliver the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas discharge in time; any discharge reductions from nuclear power will be too little, too late and come at far too high a price.
Nuclear Waste Origin- - Handling and storing Nuclear Waste can be done as long as it is cooled and plant workers are shielded from the radiation it produces by a dense material like concrete or steel. Used nuclear fuel is very hot and radioactive.
Storage of Nuclear Waste - - Intermediate- and low-level wastes are disposed of closer to the surface, in many established repositories. Low-level waste disposal sites are purpose built, but are not much different from normal city waste sites. But this used fuel is also a valuable resource, and 96% of it can be recycled. In this case about 1% of the fuel is recycled promptly into mixed oxide fuel (MOX), the rest is usually stored for the future while about 3% of the original mass remains as waste to be disposed of. The high-level wastes will be disposed of deep underground in geological repositories.
Storage for low-level and intermediary-level waste
Three types of Nuclear Waste -Waste is classified according to its potential hazard and this determines the containment and isolation required. 1.Low and intermediate level wastes arise mainly from routine facility maintenance and operations. Low level waste can be contaminated clothing such as protective shoe covers, floor sweepings, paper and plastic.Low and intermediate level wastes composed 97% of the volume but only 8% of the radioactivity of all radioactive waste. 2.Intermediate level waste can be, for example, reactor water treatment residues and filters used for purifying a reactor’s cooling water. The radioactivity ranges from just above nature’s background level to more elevated radioactivity in certain cases. 3.High level waste consists mostly of used fuel from reactors. All of this high level waste and used fuel, when declared as waste, poses a sufficiently high enough radiological risk that a high degree of isolation from the biosphere is needed for a long period of time. Because of the radioactivity and heat generated, this waste has to be shielded and cooled.
Storage of High level Waste
In Charge of Disposal- - By law, the U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for developing a disposal facility for the long-term management of used uranium fuel from America's nuclear power plants. The federal government, however, does not have a viable program for the management of used nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear energy facilities and high-level radioactive waste from the government’s defense and research activities. Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is an Institution dedicated to safely storing used Nuclear Waste.
The Problem with Nuclear Waste -
- Possible health and safety concerns require that nuclear waste be stored in a controlled and secure manner. The issue is the waste may have an extremely long half-life, some of which retain half of their dangerous properties 100,000 years after production.
The Reason Nuclear Waste is Dangerous -
- Nuclear waste is dangerous, expensive, and threat to global security. When it comes to combating climate change, it cannot deliver the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas discharge in time; any discharge
reductions from nuclear power will be too little, too
late and come at far too high a price.
Nuclear Waste Origin-
- Handling and storing Nuclear Waste can be done as long as it is cooled and plant workers are shielded from the radiation it produces by a dense material like concrete or steel. Used nuclear fuel is very hot and radioactive.
Storage of Nuclear Waste -
- Intermediate- and low-level wastes are disposed of closer to the surface, in many established repositories. Low-level waste disposal sites are purpose built, but are not much different from normal city waste sites. But this used fuel is also a valuable resource, and 96% of it can be recycled. In this case about 1% of the fuel is recycled promptly into mixed oxide fuel (MOX), the rest is usually stored for the future while about 3% of the original mass remains as waste to be disposed of. The high-level wastes will be disposed of deep underground in geological repositories.
Three types of Nuclear Waste -Waste is classified according to its potential hazard and this determines the containment and isolation required.
1. Low and intermediate level wastes arise mainly from routine facility maintenance and operations. Low level waste can be contaminated clothing such as protective shoe covers, floor sweepings, paper and plastic.Low and intermediate level wastes composed 97% of the volume but only 8% of the radioactivity of all radioactive waste.
2. Intermediate level waste can be, for example, reactor water treatment residues and filters used for purifying a reactor’s cooling water. The radioactivity ranges from just above nature’s background level to more elevated radioactivity in certain cases.
3. High level waste consists mostly of used fuel from reactors. All of this high level waste and used fuel, when declared as waste, poses a sufficiently high enough radiological risk that a high degree of isolation from the biosphere is needed for a long period of time. Because of the radioactivity and heat generated, this waste has to be shielded and cooled.
In Charge of Disposal-
- By law, the U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for developing a disposal facility for the long-term management of used uranium fuel from America's nuclear power plants. The federal government, however, does not have a viable program for the management of used nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear energy facilities and high-level radioactive waste from the government’s defense and research activities. Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) is an Institution dedicated to safely storing used Nuclear Waste.
The link is to a timeline that shows how they safely store the used waste :
http://safetyfirst.nei.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/NEI_interactiveTimeline1.swf
Sources:
- http://www.nei.org/Issues-Policy/Nuclear-Waste-Management
- http://www.world-nuclear.org/Nuclear-Basics/What-are-nuclear-wastes-/
- http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Nuclear-Wastes/Radioactive-Waste-Management/
- http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/planet-2/report/2009/4/nuclear-power-a-dangerous-was.pdf
- http://www.ehow.com/about_5393400_problems-nuclear-waste-disposal.html